July 4th

Happy 4th of July!

1969 The Rolling Stones single “Honky Tonk Women” b/w “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

It is issued the day after the death of former Stones guitarist Brian Jones. The song goes to #1.

1995 Foo Fighters self-titled debut set is out.

Over a year after Kurt Cobain’s death former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl presents the Foo Fighters’ debut set. Grohl plays nearly all the instruments. 

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge

1992 “Under The Bridge” lands at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are slotted behind Sire Mix-A-Lot (“Baby Got Back”) and Mariah Carey (“I’ll Be There”).

MORE TODAY IN ROCK…

1940 Keyboardist Dave Rowberry, Alan Price’s replacement in The Animals, is born in Mapperley, Nottinghamshire.

1952 Bad English singer and solo performer, John Waite, has a birthday.

1958 INXS’ Kirk Pengilly enters the world. The guitarist is also the group’s singer until Michael Hutchence takes over.

1964 The Beach Boys (an All-American band – at least to this point) have the top song in the nation, “I Get Around.”

1966 Lovin’ Spoonful release one of the all-time great New York songs, “Summer In The City.”

1966 Spencer Dryden makes his debut as Jefferson Airplane’s drummer, replacing Skip Spence, at the Berkeley Folk Festival.

1971 Last show at the Fillmore West. Tower of Power, Santana and Creedence Clearwater Revival perform. A jam session featuring numerous San Francisco musicians closes the show.

1980 The Beach Boys play a free Independence Day concert in Washington, D.C. (for the first time). They perform on the 4th in the nation’s capital, off and on, throughout the ’80s.

1982 Ozzy Osbourne marries his personal manager, Sharon Arden, in Hawaii. It’s his second marriage. Sharon resuscitates Ozzy’s career on several occasions.

1986 The Run DMC/Aerosmith version of “Walk This Way” one of the first, if not the first, Rap/Rock mixes, drops.  It becomes a bigger pop hit than Aerosmith’s original and helps revive the band’s career.

1998 Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band’s “Blue On Black” is back on top of Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Songs chart for the third time, for a total of six weeks at #1.

2006 Aerosmith’s Joe Perry (guitar) and Steven Tyler (vocals) perform “I Don’t Want To Miss a Thing,” “Dream On” and “Walk This Way” at the Boston Pops’ nationally televised concert.

2009 Foo Fighters headline an Independence Day barbecue on the White House lawn in front of a crowd that includes President Obama, wounded military personnel and their families. “It’s an honor to be playing here for you people,” says frontman Dave Grohl.

2010 The Killers perform at the White House for President Obama and US troops. “It is a monumental honor for us to be a part of this 4th of July celebration at the White House,” says frontman Brandon Flowers.  “We could never repay the servicemen and women of this country for their contributions and sacrifice.”

2013 Cheap Trick file a $1 million lawsuit against the Ottawa Bluesfest over the stage collapsing during their ’11 performance at the Canadian festival.

2014 Black Sabbath receive a worldwide Platinum Award for their reunion album “13.” It’s presented prior to their taking the stage at London’s Hyde Park.

2015 Foo Fighters celebrate their 20th anniversary with an Independence Day concert in the nation’s capital. Frontman Dave Grohl performs seated on a ‘throne’ having broken his leg during a concert in Sweden three weeks earlier. It is also the group’s first show since the accident.

2017 Drowning Pool perform at “Freedom Fest” at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The appearance is controversial because their song “Bodies” (“let the bodies hit the floor”) was once used to interrogate war detainees at the American prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. 

2024 After Imagine Dragons play a concert in Baku, Azerbaijan frontman Dan Reynolds defends the band’s decision to perform in a country that has forced the flight of ethnic Armenians saying “(there are) corrupt leaders and warmongers all over the world, and where do you draw the line?” System Of A Down’s Serj Tankian, an Armenian-American, responds on social media, “Respectfully, I draw the line at ethnic cleansing and genocide.”